Storelift › Compare › Free ASO tools, read carefully
Free ASO tools, read carefully
"Free ASO tool" almost always means a free tier of a paid product, and the tier is shaped by what costs the vendor money to run. Keyword rank tracking is the expensive part — a measurement per keyword, per country, every day — so it is the part most often left out. Here is what each free plan actually contains.
What the free tiers include
| Tool | Free plan | Tracks keyword rank? | Expires? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appfigures | Store analytics, 0 keywords | No — starts at $44.99/mo | No |
| AppFollow | 2 apps, 2 countries, 20 keywords/month, 5 seats | Limited — 20 keywords a month | No |
| AppTweak | 7-day trial | Yes, during the trial | Yes — 7 days |
| Sonar | 7-day trial + 3 no-signup tools | Yes, during the trial | Yes — 7 days |
| Mobile Action | Apple Ads manager, free to $10k/mo spend | No — ASO starts at $15/mo | No |
| Storelift | 1 app, 15 keywords, 1 country, 30-day history | Yes | No |
The claim worth being precise about
It would be easy, and wrong, to write "the only free ASO tool". Appfigures and AppFollow both have free tiers with no end date, and AppFollow's gives five seats — more than anyone charges nothing for.
The narrower and true statement is this: of the tools above, Storelift's is the free tier that tracks keyword rank without an expiry date. AppFollow's twenty keywords a month is a real allowance and worth using; it is a monthly quota rather than continuous daily measurement.
If a page tells you it is the only free anything, check the sentence for the qualifier that makes it true. This one has three: tracks rank, no expiry, of the tools compared here.
Tools that need no account at all
Separate from free tiers, several vendors publish calculators that run without a login. They answer a narrow question completely, which is often what you need at 11pm before a submission.
- Keyword field packer (Storelift) — packs the invisible 100-character iOS field: strips words already in your title and subtitle, splits phrases, packs them comma-separated. Runs in the browser; nothing is sent to a server.
- Store campaign link builder (Storelift) — builds Apple's
ct/ptand Play'sreferrerparameters so installs are attributable instead of landing in one undifferentiated bucket. - Sonar publishes three keyless browser tools of its own.
None of these needs an email address, and none of them will tell you where you rank — that takes a measurement, and a measurement takes an account to attach it to.
What a free tier can and can't answer
One app, fifteen keywords and one country is enough to answer three real questions: am I visible under my own name, who stands above me on the terms I care about, and is anyone searching this phrase at all. That is most of the ASO decision for a first app.
It is not enough to answer how does my visibility compare across twelve markets, or which of my eight apps moved this week. Those need more keywords and more countries, and that is what the paid tiers are for — here and everywhere else on this page.
Frequently asked
Is there a free ASO tool that tracks keyword rank?
Yes. Storelift's free tier tracks rank daily on one app, fifteen keywords and one country, with thirty days of history and no end date. AppFollow's free tier includes a monthly allowance of twenty keywords. The other free tiers compared here exclude rank tracking or expire after a trial.
Why do most free ASO tiers exclude rank tracking?
Because it is the part that costs the vendor money continuously. Every keyword must be measured in every country every cycle; the cost scales with keywords times countries times days. Analytics and review reading are cheap by comparison, which is why they are what free tiers usually contain.
Do I need to give a card for a free tier?
Not for the free tiers listed here without an expiry date. Trials are different: a seven-day trial usually asks for one up front, which is the practical difference between a trial and a free tier.
Can I use a free tier for a client's app?
Technically yes on one app. In practice a client engagement needs history longer than thirty days and usually more than one country, and reports that carry your own name — none of which a free tier is shaped for.
See this for your own app
Paste your store link, add your keywords. Rank, the apps above you and demand are measured every night.
Start free →